By Rosanne Lindsay, Naturopath Parasites, like any life form, have a purpose. They are there to clean up the mess, the toxins that accumulate over time. Chemicals and metals in food, air, and water are chief among the garbage heap that draw parasites. However, there…
By John Cryan, University College Cork In 1895, on turning 50, Elie Metchnikoff became increasingly anxious about ageing. As a result, the Russian Nobel prize-winning scientist, and one of the founders of immunology, turned his attention away from immunology and towards gerontology – a term…
A diet rich in healthy and plant-based foods is linked with the presence and abundance of certain gut microbes that are also associated with a lower risk of developing conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to recent results from a…
We live in a world invaded by plastic. Its role as a chemically stable, versatile and multi-purpose fostered its massive use, which has finally translated into our current situation of planetary pollution. Moreover, when plastic degrades it breaks into smaller micro and nanoparticles, becoming present…
Eating avocado as part of your daily diet can help improve gut health, a new study from University of Illinois shows. Avocados are a healthy food that is high in dietary fiber and monounsaturated fat. However, it was not clear how avocados impact the microbes…
Depression is a mental disorder that affects more than 264 million people of all ages worldwide. Understanding its mechanisms is vital for the development of effective therapeutic strategies. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm and the CNRS recently conducted a study showing that an imbalance…
Glyphosate is the most commonly used broad-spectrum herbicide. Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland have developed a new bioinformatics tool to predict if a microbe, e.g. a human gut bacterium, is sensitive to glyphosate. “Glyphosate targets an enzyme called EPSPS in the shikimate…
The role of the gut microbiome in disease and health has been well established. Yet, how the bacteria residing in our guts protect us from viral infections is not well understood. Now, for the first time, Harvard Medical School researchers have described how this happens…
We are born into an environment full of small organisms called microbiota. Within the first minutes and hours of our lives, they start challenging but also educating our immune system. The largest immune organ is our gut, where maturation of the immune system and maturation…
Mice fed diets high in sugar developed worse colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and researchers examining their large intestines found more of the bacteria that can damage the gut’s protective mucus layer. “Colitis is a major public health problem in the U.S….
Native chemicals similar to those found in cannabis can inhibit bacterial virulence, study led by UTSW researchers suggests Endocannabinoids, signaling molecules produced in the body that share features with chemicals found in marijuana, can shut down genes needed for some pathogenic intestinal bacteria to colonize,…
Diet remains an important part of disease prevention and management, and a new study suggests that consumption of fructose may worsen intestinal inflammation common to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Led by David Montrose, PhD, of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, the…
Specific fungi in the gut associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and found in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be altered in a beneficial manner by eating a modified Mediterranean diet, researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine have found. The…
Bacteria and other microorganisms in the digestive tract are linked with dozens of health conditions including high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and body mass index (BMI) according to research presented today at ESC Congress 2020.1 “Our study indicates that microbiota might have an important…
Disruption of gut bacteria by antibiotics soon after birth can affect the maturation of the immune system, say Rutgers researchers Even short, single antibiotic courses given to young animals can predispose them to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) when they are older, according to Rutgers researchers….
You’re faced with a big decision so your second brain provides what’s normally referred to as ‘gut instinct’, but how did this sensation reach you before it was too late? The Enteric Nervous System (ENS) is an extensive network of neurons and transmitters wrapped in…
Feeding the world’s growing population in a sustainable way is no easy task. That’s why scientists are exploring options for transforming fruit and vegetable byproducts — such as peels or pulp discarded during processing — into nutritious food ingredients and supplements. Now, researchers reporting in…
By Amanda Froelich Not only do fermented foods, such as kimchi, kefir, coconut yogurt, kombucha, and pickles, taste delicious, they are incredibly nutritious and healthy. Fermented foods are live foods, which means they are enzyme-rich and, therefore, have many benefits. For example, fermented foods can…
A common food additive, recently banned in France but allowed in the U.S. and many other countries, was found to significantly alter gut microbiota in mice, causing inflammation in the colon and changes in protein expression in the liver, according to research led by a…
By Rachael Rigby, Lancaster University and Karen Wright, Lancaster University The diverse, non-human life forms that live in our guts – known as our microbiome – are crucial to our health. A disrupted balance of these contribute to a range of disorders and diseases, including…
